by Paul Teague
It was a snatched conversation. It started with a hug. She was so sorry for what she’d done to him, but so utterly relieved that he was okay. A hug from him too. And congratulations about the twins. He didn’t know about the lasting damage that he’d done to her, but he too was relieved to see her standing there, alive. They’d never really known what had happened that day. They’d thought they were on a routine mission together. They’d even taken a photo of themselves together just before they’d been deployed. It was the one on Roachie’s desk in the bunker, though she’d never got a copy as it had been on his camera. Probably best that Mike and the kids never knew. They understood that the mission was a little unusual.
But what had really happened that day? How did they get out? Their gamble had certainly paid off as far as they were concerned, but when they had come round, they’d both been led to believe that they’d been ‘extracted’. Rescued in other words. There really wasn’t a lot that they could agree on about that day. Only that there were a lot of worried faces around at that time. Somebody had got into serious trouble over their injuries. And it was very clear to her that they couldn’t get rid of her quick enough when the redundancy notice came through. It felt like a cover up, as if somebody had had to do some serious smoothing over.
They were both agreed on one thing though. Whatever the source of that voice that had demanded a response from them, it was like nothing they’d ever heard before. The voice that had compelled them in that desperate situation to make an impossible choice. It was at once commanding, threatening, urgent … and definitely not of this world.
Chapter Two
Lost
I know straight away that the alarms are connected to whatever I just left going on in the bunker entrance. I wonder what Kate will say if Mum is waiting there. In a different set of clothes to the image that she has just shown me on her screen. Now that would take some explaining! Kate moves instantly, I hadn’t considered it before, but she seems to be pretty well in charge of this place. She isn’t shouting orders or anything like that, and in fact I’ve found it pretty hard to detect any hierarchy here so far. But it’s fair to say that she knows exactly what’s going on, and as she leaves the Control Room, she is joined - as if it has been rehearsed beforehand - by four armed guards.
Nobody has placed her in charge, but let’s put it this way. They’re following her. I run along behind, anxious to see what’s going on here.
Split Second
The bunker doors are securely shut and the wonderful colours of the protective shield, no longer required, disappear as fast as they had started. James rushes towards two figures, who are blinking madly and rubbing their eyes, desperately trying to acclimatise to the light levels inside the bunker. ‘Come with me!’ says James, his tone suggesting that this is not up for discussion. He grabs the arm of the woman and as he does so something drops from her pocket. There is no time to investigate, the alarms are ringing, he must have made a mistake, they know that he is here. The bunker staff know that somebody is here, but they do not know who. If they can make it to the end of this corridor, they may yet be able to go undetected. At this moment, the blue lights in the necks of the woman and the man stop pulsating. They are at rest. This part of the mission is completed, they are safely in the bunker.
Whoever is controlling these devices knows that this man and this woman can now avoid detection better on their own, without the assistance of the devices. Their thoughts and memories of what has been taking place in the past half hour are restored. As the pulsing stops, recognition dawns on them both at once. ‘Roachie’ she exclaims. ‘Amy’ he replies. This is not unlike a situation that they found themselves in many years beforehand. A sudden crisis situation. Limited data from which to make fast decisions. Whoever was controlling those blue devices knows that these two are best when they work together, under conditions of extreme stress, and without interference from the devices in their necks. A unique 0.01% of a test sample. They’re being left to get on with it on their own. And it doesn’t matter now that they recognise each other. In fact, that’s exactly how it needs to be. For this part of their mission, they will need to rely on their innate skills and judgement. She is slightly ahead of him, just as it was all those years ago. As partners, they are perfectly in tune in situations like this. There are few options.
The alarms are sounding. The alert has been raised. This is not necessarily a hostile situation. Very soon, they will be met by guards or some sort. Hostile or not, it will result in questions and probably, some form of detention. You don’t have alarms like this unless something serious is going on. Whatever is going on outside, it has something to do with this place. And there’s this additional information that only she can digest and he has no knowledge of. Most people would display huge extremities of emotion when confronted with the sight of this child in front of her. The blue device had suppressed that recognition so far, now there is no doubt about it. But this pair are one of only 0.01%, they don’t do what other people would do.
There had been a lot of trouble over what they’d done all those years previously. But that was why they needed to be here. Together, in this bunker, at this time. James had been scheduled to be here already. Amy had had to be lured here at the last moment, when events had taken a sudden turn. Over 30 years in the planning, and nobody could have foreseen this. In an instant the decision is made. All those years ago, it was about buying more time, creating a different option, an alternative outcome when it seemed that none were possible.
James knew in that instant that if Amy was here it had to be connected with those events years earlier. This crazy darkness outside, the secrecy, the planning, the Military overtones of the entire affair. She realised the same, it must all be connected, but with the child here too, inexplicably, they must be at the centre of this somehow. Most people would have waited, like rabbits frozen in the headlamps, so much in panic that they couldn’t even see what options were available to them. They knew that they had to buy more time for explanation, to figure out what was going on here. ‘Sorry Roachie,’ Amy said as she took her laptop out of her bag and smacked James firmly on the head.
She didn’t notice the phone that had fallen to the ground to her side. She grabbed the child’s hand, and they ran for their lives as Roachie slumped bloodied to the ground.
Fall out
He thought that he was going to be taken off the project after the nearfatal injuries, but by the skin of his teeth he had managed to salvage his role. After all, with so much energy and expertise invested already, and with time running out for the planet, this was really no time for an impromptu change of personnel. He was uniquely qualified for this job, above everybody else on the planet, so a bit of collateral damage was easily explained.
The Military were furious, calling him incompetent for allowing live rounds of ammunition during the simulations, wanting his head on a plate because their two soldiers had been exposed to so much real danger. They’d been assured that the worst case scenario was a bad headache and temporary unconsciousness from the lasers, which would be set to stun. But with both Zero-97/4 and Zero-98/4 sustaining life threatening injuries, this was becoming uncomfortable. It didn’t take too long for the posturing and temper tantrums to die down and the assertions of rank to cease. Once it had been passed up and down the command chain a few times, it was agreed that the situation should just be ‘contained’.
She was to be exited from her Military role, with immediate effect. They’d call it redundancy, move her on without a fuss. He would be given the best care and support possible, then allowed to continue his long and exemplary career. For him that was the course of least resistance, he was a Military man, easier to keep him where he was most comfortable, but no more special missions for him. They would be forbidden to communicate and this would be monitored to ensure full compliance. Besides, he had a strong interest in how they’d both performed that day. Results like those could come in useful, he wanted them out of everybody else’
s sight. But he wanted them where he could see them. He had known about the meeting on the train, he knew that there was a lifelong connection there. Honestly, a disposable mobile phone? It was easily traced back to her. Nobody else knew about their meeting and he certainly had not shared that information.
The research and tests continued, the furore settled down and he continued at the forefront of the project, working from his base in the UK. A role sanctioned by the Global Consortium. But ultimately controlled by a much higher power.
Chapter Three
Message
By the time Kate and the guards arrive at the entrance, whatever had happened seemed to be over. There is no sign of Mum. That is a huge disappointment for me.
However, slumped against the wall with a fresh trickle of blood from a nasty wound on his head is the man I’d been watching only a short time beforehand. The bunker doors are firmly shut, the wonderful blanket of light across the entrance has disappeared and there is no sign of anybody else. Kate is clearly a little taken aback by this. ‘James,’ she says, ‘What happened here?’ It’s strange to see her refer to James’ name badge on his uniform. Here were were in a hi-tech installation, yet all the people here were only just getting to know each other and still had to resort to what were effectively supermarket name badges to figure out who they were talking to. Like she is about to ask him where the cabbages are.
James rubs his head melodramatically and gives the appearance of being dazed. I’ve seen acting skills like that before. In fact, I’m the Master of them! ‘I was running a routine inspection of the doors and cameras,’ James explains, ‘And I think I must have hit my head on the panel here.’ Kate looks uncertain and turns to the security team for guidance, but there doesn’t seem to be an awful lot to say here. ‘We’d had a problem with the cameras,’ James continues, ‘I’m sorry, I should have flagged it in the Control Room, I just put it down to routine teething problems.’
‘At least I managed to sound the alarm to get your attention,’ he adds, almost pleadingly. Kate appears hesitant, but reasonably convinced by this. What he was saying seemed unlikely, yet only hours earlier she’d had to send a team to retrieve me from this very area, so it’s certainly not impossible that another problem has occurred here. They’d used biohazard suits when they came for me because they didn’t know that the area was fully clear from the darkness outside at that stage. I decide to help this James guy out. I can see through his bad acting, and I want to get a chance to talk with him in private. ‘Kate, that head wound looks pretty bad, I wonder if he should get that looked at?’ I propose. With nothing else to suggest, Kate nods agreement, then asks one of the security team to check system records to make sure that James’ story checks out.
James is escorted away from the area, towards the MedLab, to get the head wound looked at. The security guys make sure that the control panel is secured, then leave the area. I am lurking, and nobody seems to have noticed. I hoped that they wouldn’t spot what I’d just seen hidden away in a shadowy edge of the corridor. It’s my phone. Mum had been here. And James was covering something up. As the security team start to head off down the corridor I grab the phone and tap the screen to force it back into life. The battery is really low. They can power a fluffy pink rabbit with a cymbal for several days in those TV adverts but they still can’t make a mobile phone stay charged for any decent length of time.
Fortunately, because we’d had no internet in Scotland, all the connectivity was switched off, so I still have a little bit of life left in the phone. There is a new text message waiting for me. Actually, it’s a multimedia text message, if it had just been a text, I might not have looked. It has been sent from Dad’s phone. I open it up hurriedly, cursing the battery life on my phone. Could he have sent me this when we were separated? Would the text service even work down here? I open up the video. It is Dad. In the background is Dr Pierce. It has been filmed outside our front door. It was dark outside when this was recorded.
This must have been filmed that night we got the strange knock at the door. When I thought I’d heard Dr Pierce’s voice. It had been Dr Pierce. I play the video, and Dad’s voice comes through the speaker. It’s not that long since I’d last seen him, but it feels reassuring to hear his voice. ‘Dan, it’s Dad.’ he begins. I actually laugh at that. ‘Err Dad, I can see you!’ I chuckle to myself.
My mood changes when I hear what he has to say. ‘Dan, you can see that Dr Pierce is with me now. He’s asked me to film this because it’s all going to make sense to you in a couple of days’ time.’
‘First Dan, you mustn’t worry about any of us, we’re all going to be fine.
‘Dr Pierce has told me some of what’s going to happen when we’re in Scotland.’ ‘I don’t like it, but we get to go to the bunker this way, it’s best for the family. And Mum needs this.’ His face moves in and out of focus, I can tell that he had been shaking as he recorded the message. ‘You need to do a couple of things Dan, and I just need you to trust me with this, okay?’ I hope like Hell that my battery holds out. ‘Dan, you need to get to Level 3 in the bunker, you’ll be able to make contact with Dr Pierce there. He’ll explain more okay?’ I am completely confused, but I keep listening.
I know when Dad is being serious, and he was being serious now. ‘Dan, there’s something special about you that makes you really important in all this. It’s about you, it’s all about you and ...’ Damn phone! The battery dies and the video dies with it.
Concealed
After all these years and after all that worry, concern, doubt and regret. The first thing that she’d done was to whack Roachie on the head with her laptop. They had to buy more time, cause a distraction, find out what’s going on . It would need to look convincing, so unfortunately, blood would be required. There’s something about the presence of blood that means that no questions are asked. People immediately respond to it, even if it’s only a little bit. So when she’d hit Roachie on the head it had been a calculated move. To give him an alibi, something to distract from what had really been going on here.
She thought that she knew the bunker layout from her visit earlier in the day, so she was a little taken aback by the appearance of the corridor. It had completely transformed from something grey, dark and made of solid concrete to a lighter, cleaner and very hi-tech appearance. No time to ask why. So much was unusual about this day already that nothing surprised her now. Roachie would have some time to figure out a good story. He wasn’t unconscious, she knew that. In fact, it shouldn’t have hurt him that much. It probably damaged her laptop more than it did his skull. After all she should know. Roachie’s head is made up mostly of metal plates. It was because of her that they’d had to be put there in the first place. A careless shot with a gun years before.
Well, she had no intention of using a gun ever again, but in this case, a laptop would do very nicely. Giving her and the child just enough time to make it to the end of the corridor and conceal themselves before the guards arrived.
Preparation
He’s ready for this to play out now. More than 20 years involved in this project. So many tests and so much planning. He’d felt the strain of responsibility many times before. And he’d nearly been removed from the project altogether, after that incident with the simulation.
But the future of the entire world rests on the success of this operation. And it felt to him like the final scene of a play, with all the key characters gathered on the stage There was the boy Dan, and his mother. Dan was a sharp kid, he’d have a lot of growing up to do as all of this played out, but he was sure he was up to it. He’d spent a lot of time with the child already, albeit under a pretence.
His mum was an amazing woman, and in spite of all the incredible things that he’d had to do leading these events, he could still take the time to admire a person like her. The wound that she’d sustained in the simulation, the way she’d reacted all those years ago. He admired her all the more for the way that she’d got on with her life afterward
s, almost as if it had never happened. But she’d given him an excellent opportunity - a chance that he never thought he’d need all those years ago.
This woman and her son, they didn’t know it yet, but they were the key to this entire thing. And as he looked at what was happening in the top level of the bunker from the display on his terminal, he was really going to need a back-up plan if the planet was going to get out of this in one piece. Yes, they were his back-up plan … the woman and the twins.
Chapter Four
Exploration
I’ve just noticed a weird thing about this bunker. There are no plug sockets. I know that’s an unusual thing to be noticing right now, but really? Surely somebody has to vacuum this corridor. So where are the plugs? I don’t have a charging lead with me anyway, but I would really like to see the end of that video message from Dad.
Something strange is happening as well. And I don’t just mean this entire darkness, bunker and ‘family put to sleep’ thing. I mean it’s happening to me. Ever since I left that guy, James, at the door, I’ve been feeling different. It’s like the opposite of what happened after Nat died. As if the Bluetooth on my phone had just discovered another device. I haven’t felt like this since, well, Nat died. I’ve got so used to living without that feeling of connection over the years, that it feels really unusual to be getting this now. But it feels great, it makes me feel, for want of a better word, complete. Like this is how I’m supposed to feel all of the time. It must be this place, maybe something to do with the treatment they gave me in the MedLab.
Whatever it is, I’m feeling sharper, more awake and alert than I have since I can remember. I need to take some action - and fast. It must be approaching 20:00 hours, I’d like to make as much progress as I can before that full mission briefing. I have a feeling that things will change around here when that happens, I suspect at the very least there will be much more purpose to what’s going on in this bunker.